SECTIONS 53160-53162 - California Statutes

GOVERNMENT CODE

SECTION 53160-53162

53160. (a) The head of a special district, after one year, may
destroy recordings of routine video monitoring, and after 100 days
may destroy recordings of telephone and radio communications
maintained by the special district. This destruction shall be
approved by the legislative body and the written consent of the
agency attorney shall be obtained. In the event that the recordings
are evidence in any claim filed or any pending litigation, they shall
be preserved until pending litigation is resolved.
(b) For purposes of this article, "recordings of telephone and
radio communications" means the routine daily recording of telephone
communications to and from a special district, and all radio
communications relating to the operations of the special district.
(c) For purposes of this article, "routine video monitoring" means
video recording by a video or electronic imaging system designed to
record the regular and ongoing operations of the special district,
including mobile in-car video systems, jail observation and
monitoring systems, and building security recording systems.
(d) For purposes of this article, "special district" shall have
the same meaning as "public agency," as that term is defined in
Section 53050.

53161. Notwithstanding Section 53160, the legislative body of a
special district may prescribe a procedure whereby duplicates of
special district records less than two years old may be destroyed if
they are no longer required.
For purposes of this section, video recording media, including
recordings of "routine video monitoring" pursuant to Section 53160,
shall be considered duplicate records if the special district keeps
another record, such as written minutes or an audio recording, of the
event that is recorded in the video medium. However, a video
recording medium shall not be destroyed or erased pursuant to this
section for at least 90 days after occurrence of the event recorded
thereon.

53162. (a) When installing new security systems, a transit agency
operated by a special district shall only purchase and install
equipment capable of storing recorded images for at least one year,
unless all of the following conditions apply:
(1) The transit agency has made a diligent effort to identify a
security system that is capable of storing recorded data for one
year.
(2) The transit agency determines that the technology to store
recorded data in an economically and technologically feasible manner
for one year is not available.
(3) The transit agency purchases and installs the best available
technology with respect to storage capacity that is both economically
and technologically feasible at that time.
(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, video recordings
or other recordings made by security systems operated as part of a
public transit system shall be retained for one year, unless one of
the following conditions applies:
(1) The video recordings or other recordings are evidence in any
claim filed or any pending litigation, in which case the video
recordings or other recordings shall be preserved until the claim or
the pending litigation is resolved.
(2) The video recordings or other recordings recorded an event
that was or is the subject of an incident report, in which case the
video recordings or other recordings shall be preserved until the
incident is resolved.
(3) The transit agency utilizes a security system that was
purchased or installed prior to January 1, 2004, or that meets the
requirements of subdivision (a), in which case the video recordings
or other recordings shall be preserved for as long as the installed
technology allows.